J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2005 Jan;44(1):41-49.

Association between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphism

• Kim SJ
• Kim CH
• Cho DY
• Lee HS

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The definite cause of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is still unknown. Evidences from familial, twin and segregation studies support the role of a genetic factor. There also are growing evidences indicating that OCD has specific neurochemical and neuroanatomical basis. Derived from the effectiveness of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in OCD treatment, several candidate genes related to serotonin regulation have been hypothesized to play on important role in the development of OCD. One of them is the serotonin transporter gene. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between serotonin transporter gene and OCD.
METHODS
124 OCD patients and 119 normal controls participated in this study. Genomic DNA was extracted from their blood. The genotypes and allele frequencies of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism between OCD group and control group were compared. And we investigated the association between 4 factors derived from YBOCS checklists and 5-HTTLPR polymorphism.
RESULTS
In this case-control study, we could not find any association between 5-HTRLPR polymorphism and development of OCD. In OCD group, patients with L (l/s+s/s) genotype had higher scores for the religious/somatic factor than those with S genotype.
CONCLUSION
In this study, there was no difference in genotype distributions of 5-HTTLPR between OCD and control groups. But, L genotype of 5-HTTLPR polymorphism had negative effects on some factors of the obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Keyword

Serotonin transporter; Polymorphism; OCD

MeSH Terms

Case-Control Studies
Checklist
DNA
Gene Frequency
Genotype
Humans
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder*
Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins*
Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors
Serotonin*
DNA
Serotonin
Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors